


Quirks and All

by Perfect_Insanity



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daryl Dixon fluff - Freeform, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, daryl dixon - Freeform, the walking dead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 20:13:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15056900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perfect_Insanity/pseuds/Perfect_Insanity
Summary: Daryl meets a girl who has similar eating habits.





	Quirks and All

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again, this is sort of a weird request but I think it would be cute for Daryl to meet a girl in Alexandria that uses her hands and fingers to eat sometimes like he does. 

Daryl always felt out of place wherever he went. And being in this group hadn’t been too helpful at first. It was so obvious how different he was compared to everyone else. Over time, once he broke free of his brother’s influence, he became a real member of the family. He embraced his new role in the group but that didn’t mean that he still did things a lot different than the others. It wasn’t something that was too noticeable, mostly little things that weren’t all that important. After some time, Daryl even stopped noticing it.

When the group was discovered by a man named Aaron and he brought them to a new community, Alexandria, that insecurity returned for a moment. But at least Daryl had the slight comfort of knowing he wasn’t the only outsider this time. But just like his group, this one was just as welcoming, though he resisted it the way he always did.

“You plan on showering anytime soon?” Carol teased, “Gotta keep appearances ya know.”

Daryl grunted, focused more on his crossbow than whatever Carol was saying, “Yeah, yeah. That’s if we stay here.”

“Was kinda hopin’ you would end up stayin’ here,” a small voice startled Daryl and actually tore his attention from his crossbow. A young woman was standing in front of the porch steps with a laundry basket in her hands. She held back a laugh at the stunned look on Daryl’s face. Not many people could sneak up on him and she’d managed to do it, “Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten ya. Deanna wasn’t expecting a baby to be with ya so this is just some extra clothes and sheets for her. Is Rick here?”

“Nah,” Daryl replied, “Took Judith for a walk.”

“Oh,” the woman replied, “Well, I guess I’ll just hand this off to you then and you can give it to him. You’re Carol and you’re Daryl, right?”

“Yes,” Carol said with a warm smile, really committing herself to the role of meek and mild mannered, “Nice to meet you. And your name is…?”

“Y/N,” she said. She turned to Daryl and smirked, “Not much of a talker, huh?”

Daryl shrugged and she just chuckled, “I guess not. I’ll see ya around then. I’ll probably stop by a little later. We really weren’t expecting Aaron to bring so many people back. Gotta bring more stuff for you all.”

“There’s no rush,” Carol said reassuringly, “We haven’t been this comfortable in a long time. Right, Daryl?”

“Yeah,” Daryl grunted. The woman nodded, gave Daryl a small wave, and walked off to gather more supplies for them. Daryl returned his attention to his crossbow even as Carol approached him, leaning against the railing a bit to get a look at the woman walking away.

“It’s funny,” Carol remarked, “You always wanna push people away so badly and yet you just draw people in. You just kinda blew Y/N off though.”

Daryl glanced up at the girl walking away but offered a simple shrug in response, “Don’t know her. Want me to go give her a hug or something?”

“No, I’m just saying,” Carol retorted as she headed down the porch steps, “It wouldn’t kill you to open yourself up a little bit.”

As usual, Daryl ignored Carol’s advice and continued to remain isolated, offering short answers to any questions he was asked. A few days passed by and people were starting to pick up similarities between Daryl and Y/N. It was bringing a few of his insecurities back as he never thought these little quirks were noticeable. A few people teased that maybe she was Daryl’s long lost sister. They were obviously kidding but it wouldn’t shock him even a little bit if she was. With the way his father got around when he was growing up, it was truly a miracle he didn’t have more siblings running around. But Y/N, having heard that particular comment during a barbecue Deanna and her family were having one evening, mentioned that while she was from a similar area of Georgia, her father had died after the outbreak. She even had a picture of him and she looked just like him. No relation at all.

“Not that I’d mind being related to Daryl,” she said, bumping him with her hip, “Just think he would mind being related to me. Ain’t that right?”

Daryl was of course silent, mostly because he was just uncomfortable being the center of attention. She patted his shoulder as she stood up, “Right. I’m gonna get some more food. Anyone want anything while I’m up?”

Everyone shook their head and she sauntered off to get more food. Daryl had barely even touched his food since his name was mentioned. He was still tense and felt like all eyes were on him but he was too hungry to care as he started devouring his food. It was the first time he’d had barbecue sauce in who knows how long and it was so savory and sweet on his tongue. It was also all over his fingers and covering his cheeks and getting caught in his facial hair. Now it was obvious that everyone was looking at him.

“What?” he snapped, “Expect barbecued meat to be clean?”

“No, it’s not that,” Tara said, “We were just noticing something.”

“What?” Daryl said again, “Can’t even eat in peace.”

“It’s just…well, look for yourself,” Maggie said. She pointed to Y/N, who had gotten distracted by Aaron’s boyfriend, Eric. She had started eating what was on her plate and the way she held her food in her hands despite having perfectly fine utensils right in front of her almost mirrored the way Daryl did it. It was all over her cheeks and almost dripped off her bottom lip before her tongue swiped across to catch it.

“You meet up on the family tree somewhere,” Glenn said, “That’s just uncanny.”

Y/N had left Eric to rejoin everyone else in their little group. She’d heard everything they said. And she knew they didn’t mean it in a cruel, malicious way. They weren’t even laughing at her or at Daryl, simply pointing out similarities. But looking at Daryl, she also knew it was making him uncomfortable, like he wanted to jump out of his own skin.

“Well, we’ve done nothing but talk about me all evening,” she said, “Why don’t you guys tell me about yourselves? You guys must have interesting stories to tell, right?”

The evening wound down after a few hours and everyone was leaving and heading for bed, full of food and satisfied. Daryl however, had been completely silent the entire time and even left early without finishing his own meal. Y/N felt so bad for him that he was that uncomfortable with his own little habits and quirks. Maybe he just didn’t want to be compared to a girl, who knows. In any case, you wanted to try and make him feel better.

He was hard to miss. Even in complete darkness, the lit up end of his cigarette gave him away. His cheeks hollowed as he inhaled deeply, staring off into the distance as he pulled the cigarette from his thin lips, light grey smoke flowing from his mouth as he exhaled.

“Daryl,” she said, “Noticed ya didn’t finish your dinner. Couldn’t be full, ya barely touched it.”

“Wasn’t hungry,” Daryl muttered. He flicked ash off the end of his cigarette and stuck it back between his lips, “What’dya want, Y/N?”

“I just wanted to bring you your dinner while it was still warm,” she said, slowly walking up the porch steps. Daryl said nothing so she proceeded, setting the plate down on the table in front of him and taking a seat beside him on the porch swing, “I know it bothered you that your friends were comparing you to me. We do things pretty similarly I guess. Didn’t really notice until your friends and mine started pointing it out.”

Daryl nodded but still stayed quiet. Y/N sighed heavily, resting her hands on her legs, “Look, I thought it was kinda funny that people were saying your mom lied to you or my mom lied to me about who our real dad was or that we’re on the family tree somewhere but I realize it’s not funny to you.”

“It’s nothing,” Daryl finally said, “I can deal with it.”

“It’s okay to be bothered by it,” she continued, “But you gotta know the people here, they’re gonna accept all of us for our habits, our funny little quirks. You’re not an outsider here. You’re among friends.”

“Guess so,” Daryl said. Y/N leaned over to grab a piece of meat from Daryl’s plate and she popped it into her mouth, laughing as she chewed happily. It got a smile out of Daryl as he took some and tossed it into his mouth as she had done, “Hell, it’d be nice if my mom had lied to me about who my dad was anyway.”

Y/N patted Daryl’s back as he started eating again, “I’d like that too. As long as it doesn’t have extra marital affairs because that kinda shit gets messy.”

Daryl shrugged, “If it’s my family, who the fuck knows.”

He wasn’t sure if he would ever be comfortable in this new place, especially with people noticing how similar he was to this girl. But she had a confidence that he wanted so badly. But goddamn, she made it look easy and she made embracing the habits and the quirks that much easier for him. He could be a part of the jokes now without hiding away or keeping everyone at arm’s length. It felt wonderful to be a part of the group again and it didn’t take half as long. This girl had really brought him out of his shell, quirks and all.


End file.
